Thou shalt not...

In my years visiting pulpits of different churches, I usually found that what I so carefully planned to speak on was overridden at the last minute by God. As such, I often had to "wing it". I find writing this blog is no different. This week I was in the process of writing a blog about Ava Denton as an example of how God puts certain people in our lives for specific reasons.

As I wrote about Ava, God kept reminding me of a sermon by Father Phil Wallace at St. Louise Parish on the first day of Lent. Father Phil asked "what things do you have before you?" (Exodus 20:3-5a). I wasn't sure why God kept speaking to me about this, when I already planned the perfect blog on how people are put into our lives.

While I was thinking about the ending of my post, I started thinking about how I look forward to seeing Ava in 2 weeks when she delivers delicious grass fed organic beef to the Seattle area. I thought about going to visit Ava on vacation this spring, letting my wife and daughter experience a life I used to live (raising cattle) and to finish Ava's untextured walls (which bother me more than her). I thought about riding horses, fixing fences, and branding young cows, the fresh milk and butter, and bailing hay.

What I realized was that Father Phil's words rang true - we all put things in our life ahead of Him, and we tend to covet what our neighbors have (Exodus 20:17). I covet Ava's pony, her unfinished walls, and her cows. I want the simple (but hard) life she works, the fresh air, the space to grow a garden. I don't want her smelly dog (I have my own smelly dog). Basically, I want her lifestyle - which means I covet what she has.

So what do we do when we "covet" (eagerly wish for) what others have? The same thing we do with all sins. We need to recognize our sins, lay them before the Lord (James 5:16), and He will forgive us (Mark 3:28). The key is to recognize we all sin, and realize we are not slaves to that sin in Jesus - and strive for righteousness (Romans 6:1-3).

Through this process we find restoratoin in our relationship with God. After all, Jesus likes relationships - He's a romantic.

Jesus: The Romantic

Exactly 4 years ago today, the good Lord introduced me to my wife.

Over the past 2 weeks, I have been struggling with composing the perfect blog entry for today, honoring my wife and glorifying God. I have pondered a long timeline from when she was a youngster and her mother (a powerful and well connected communist leader) could not find an Italian language teacher and opted for English instead, all the way to the night that a phone call to one person was errantly routed to a sleepy English professor in Ukraine at 2am her time.

I have recalled the job posting she wanted to respond to that suddenly blew away, leaving her only one other posting that ultimately led to a job that set the stage for our errant phone call, and the numerous times He has shown His hand and intervened to ensure our being together afterwards.

I struggled with not knowing how to pull all these situations together into a cohesive story of how God intervenes in our lives to bring people together, until Jesus showed up on this 4th anniversary of His introduction of two people He meant for each other.

We went out for a wonderful anniversary dinner last night, since our daughter was gone for the evening. When we returned home, I placed an order for a few items from AmazonFresh for delivery in the wee hours before we woke, and then we retired for the night. At 5:30am I found our order sitting on our porch where it belonged. But wait... there was an unusually light bin for what I ordered. Upon opening it, what did I find?

A beautiful bouquet of flowers, and a single deep red rose.

Despite knowing what happened, I checked with AmazonFresh. They had no reports of missing orders, no record of a missing delivery bin, and no record of any flower orders into our area for the day.

We knew the simple truth from our experiences... Jesus is simply a romantic.

And they shall become one flesh

One of the things that God brought to my mind while I was hospitalized was Genesis 2:24. He gave me a new understanding of "becoming one flesh".

What does being "one flesh" mean? Basically it means that a man and woman that God puts together are meant to live in union with each other. They should live in harmony, intimacy, and support of one another. Now I don't know how well I do that, but my wife has that down pat (yes, I am boasting about what a lucky guy I am).

During the times I was hospitalized, my wife was beside me at all possible times. Although we had a considerable amount of company at our home each and every time, she got up and went to work, stopped by the house for a quick bite to eat, shopped, cooked, and then proceeded to the hospital. Even though I was a) drugged on narcotics and sleeping, or b) not the most pleasant person in the world, she was there each day until she couldn't stay awake anymore. Only then would she return home to sleep, and prepare to do it all over again.

Even when I was home between hospital stays, she went beyond what most people ever endure. There were times I passed out and she lugged my 200+ pound body back to bed (or to the hospital), times I made a mess (all over me and/or the house), and when I was awake she listend to my complaining and whining.

She stood so firmly beside me, strong and brave, until the ordeal was over and I was finally diagnosed. It was only at that time she gave in to her fears of being left alone in a strange country. She exemplified being reverent, self controlled, busy and loving of her family (Titus 2:3-5).

God left no doubt in my mind that she is my lifemate, that I am lucky, and that I recieve favor from my Lord Jesus as a result (Proverbs 18:22).

Does Denomination Matter?

I have to address this before we get too far down the road. People often ask things such as "what denomination are you?" or "are you equally yoked?". My denomination is Christian. My wife's denomination is Chrisitan. Yes, we are equally yoked.

In the early church, there was no denomination. Christians were Christians. If you look at the splits in Christian organizations, from the very first one, they have all been over a disagreement on interpretation of scripture. Every spit in a church rests on interpretation of scripture. Every belief in Christian faith that disagrees with another, hinges on interpretation of scripture.

What we as Christians need to remember is that all those that call on the name of Christ are Christians (Acts 2:21).

I have often heard protestants say "our cross is empty, because we know Jesus was raised from the dead. Look at the Catholics, their Jesus is still dead". But if you understand the beliefs of the Catholics, you will understand that Jesus is on the Catholic cross as a rememberance that Jesus died for our sins. Some churches believe in being vegetarians, some believe in Saturday Sabbath, some believe in dressing up for Church, some believe in "come as you are". Is one church "The" church, with "The" correct beliefs?

I hate to say it, but "no", there is no "perfect" Church or Denomination (1 Corinthians 1:11-13).

People have different personalities and relate to things differently. People have a natural need to "be right". People have a natural need to point out other's faults while ignoring their own. All I can do is point to Romans 15:5 and encourage people to look past their Christian beliefs and try to understand the beliefs of other Christian faiths. In this, you can see how we are the same.

If you disagree with my views, so be it. I will hang onto Matthew 5:19 and Matthew 11:11. I'll hang out with John the Baptist and the other "leasts".

Watching the signs

When I started this blog, I debated if I would run out of things to say. But God, in all his wonder, continues to teach daily to those who are willing. Today, I want to relate my wife's view of God's hand, in "watching the signs".

She went to work at 9:30am this morning. Upon arriving, she saw one of those miniature bottles of hand lotion, and recognized it as the ones that the Evergreen Hospital uses. The first thing that went through her mind was "Kevin has a doctors appointment today, he's not in the hospital". She then left the break room, and went up to the office. They asked her to go to the bank with the deposits from yesterday, and she thought it was odd that they were sending her almost 1 hour and 15 minutes early. But she took her purse from the locker, the deposits, and off she went.

Strangely enough, it was just at that time that the Woodinville EMT was loading me into the Emergency Response Vehicle. I had had my blood pressure drop out, and not only had I just sent her an SMS, but the EMT called her phone.

In Irina's eyes, she sees that God not only prepared her for the trip to the ER, but he also orchestrated the early trip to the bank. Had she not gone to the bank at that moment, her purse would have sat in her locker for another hour or two, and I would have been long and deep into the hospital ER (where there is no cellular service) by the time she found out. Did I mention that my SMS was too cryptic for her to know what was going on, had she not been able to call at that time?

Sitting in the ER, she related this story to me. As she noted, many people chalk such things up to "coincidence". However, such coincidences can only be orchestrated by a wise and loving creator.

As my wife does, think about the coincidence next time, and see if you can find the signs God gave you beforehand.

God's Lessons

mus·ing (my z ng) adj. Deep in thought; contemplative. n. 1. Contemplation; meditation. 2. A product of contemplation; a thought. (www.thefreedictionary.com/musing).

This definition fits the state I have been in for the past 3 months, in regards to my life and God's hand in it. I visited the hospital 5 times in this period, with varying diagnoses, until the doctors found a tumor on my pituitary gland. This has given me great opportunity to review my life, and see things in a different light.

I do not believe God "blessed me" with a tumor to teach me a lesson. This is a belief that many Christians take when something unexpected happens in their life. What we need to remember is that life happens to us because Adam and Eve disobeyed. However, Romans 8:28-29 tells us that all things work for good when God is involved.

This is how I view my situation: I got a tumor because I am human. It was "luck of the draw". God made no grand plans to give me a tumor. But because I was willing to involve Him in the situation, He is using it to teach me many valuable lessons on a daily basis.

I will share my reflections here as time goes on. Some of these lessons are small, some large. But they are all things that I would not have otherwise taken the time to see. For His willingness to teach, I give thanks to Him. 1 Thess 5:18.